


Winter Curse | Don't Starve | Another Willowson drabble

by salty_shad



Category: Don't Starve (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Humor, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Freezing, Madness, Mind Games, Mind Manipulation, Willow POV attempt, death is permanent here, did I ever mention how bad I love to see my fav characters to suffer?, made in spain™, slight Hypothermia, you know it's going to be angst when I focus too much on Willow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:08:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24217894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/salty_shad/pseuds/salty_shad
Summary: A bad choice taken by certain fire lover leads to attrocious consequences that eventually will lead her to her doom.
Relationships: Willow/Wilson (Don't Starve)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	Winter Curse | Don't Starve | Another Willowson drabble

**Author's Note:**

> sorry for the grammar mistakes

Cold breezes, sudden rain, an hectoring howl in the distance; the worst scenario possible for the stubborn firestarter. Yet everything came out from nowhere. She hadn't been long enough in the Constant to realize its fully logic, but something was clearly wrong with the weather and its function. How exactly could this happen again? Ah, yes, a really bad choice; but it's not like they were in the best position to decline the risk. Anything that was free and not so risky to get was more than welcomed in their case. 

It started in a nice morning after all the tedious work that summer forced to do in their struggle to not to overheat and maintain their camp safe from wild fires. It was an ironic and unamusing activity for her, but if she dies she'll never get to see another nice those sweet embers consuming every last splinter of the trunk that managed to survive after the last forest fire she started. The scientist thought it might be a good idea to get some resources of the eering forest they had not so far to the base, since autumn was a peaceful season to recover what they lost and prepare for the next problematic . That forest wasn't just a common one, the turf being stepped on felt like, death itself. The color of the grass hinted that it was getting withered over time, but never dying, like an endless process of aging.

It was like one of those haunting stories which involved people getting lost and eventually slaughtered or dying of starvation, which is the last thing they'd want to do. The trees which poblated that biome were almost extinct, since they didn't grant any seeds or fruits to replant; but it's not like it mattered in a paralel dimension where mother nature meant petty for the survivors. However, it was also poblated of bloodthirstied spiders which wouldn't hesitate to devour the last piece of flesh remaining in the corpse of those who dared to step on their webs. 

Wilson was pretty used to the menacing environment and prepared to run away in a fight-o-flight response. He was fully aware that everything could get him killed in no time, and somehow he already managed to swallow the doubt and get over with it as quick as possible. So it wasn't much of a big deal for him risking his life just for a little of wood, not like he cared after all he'd been through; it was kind of a miracle the fact that he remained sane, for a scientist.

Willow, on the other hand, knew little about the Constant as stated before and that turned out to be more troubling that she thought. She didn't get used to see those spiders showing off and hissing to everything, or the hounds barking at them in the distance if she could even call that barking. The sound was more like an agressive hog pretending to be able to rip off your skin and put a mask of your face, parodying the reverse image of certain murderer. Nonetheless, she'd never flee, no matter how strong or unknown a monster could be for her. As long as she has her stuffed protector near her, she will always face the fight. Such paralels line they seemed like. Yet the only thing they had in common and were very aware of, was their recklessness. They didn't take much care of theirselves, just in their own ways.

"Is everything alright, miss?" Surprisingly for her, the one leading noticed her further and slower than usual, and awaken a slight worry on his face. That definitely caught the firestarter out of guard, but still, something came out of her mouth.

"It's none of your business." That response just popped out like a reflex when she tried to convince him to stop, and suddenly, she realized her impoliteness. "I-I mean! It's not important." Nevertheless, Wilson shrugged at both answers; luckily, he was patient enough to deal with a pyromaniac lady wary of people. He couldn't blame her, though; but having someone to co-operate was a luxury that he didn't value in the past, and in the not so past he couldn't afford such. Her company, even if he was given the cold shoulder, was much obliged.

"¡Oh, there it is!" A smile charged with pride could be seen under those sparkly blue eyes which reminded her to the serene currents of an affluent running to the sea. She hates the sea, though. While admiring his desired spider nest and in a reckless move, he stepped into the silk attached to the dirt to remove what it looked like a bunny trap with the remainings of what used to be a spider; leaving its guts and a spider gland.

"Gross." She didn't look disgusted, though. Her face was not surprised after seeing worse in the Constant, just slightly tired as she glanced towards the mad man inspecting the trap. "I must say I didn't expect it to work, but apparently these kind of spiders will do anything to get monster meat. No matter if they're not starving, or if it could be dangerous for them. They even ate flesh of their own kind!"

If he intended to give his companion a good impression, he was making it worse. The more excited the scientist spoke, the creepier and disturbing his hypothesis was getting. That behaviour sometimes costed him the whole path to get Willow's trust, which everyday seemed like a dead end; but she was too obstinated to show her nuisance.

Wilson got already lost in his explanation and didn't turn to the firestarter when he attempted to dismantle the silk structure. There weren't any spiders left since they all fell directly into his well-made trap. In the mean time, Willow took advantage of the picture and slipped away before he finished. She didn't get that far, but she needed some "me time".

The rebel firestarter was already alone. Nothing could come between her and her inner voice. Or that's what she thought. Her "inner voice" was getting louder and noisier with every step she made out of her initial location. It was starting to pester her. The annoyed woman turned her head to every single angle in which she thought she'd be seen, expecting to see certain puppetmaster wandering over her.

"Show yourself, you little shit." Grumbled with fingers running her hair, struggling to remain sane, but that just amused him. The whispers became solid voices shocking against her ears repeatedly; she was about to lose it, the terrorbreaks were just going to enjoy that helpless buffet. It seemed that she was going to end fighting against her shenanigans independently of her success. 

An uninvited hand grabbed her shoulder. "Where have you been? You left me worried!" Willow just pushed aside her shoulder away from her unconsciously savior, as proud as usual. "Miss?" Her face looked like if she got back right from the depths of a corpse pit to see all the victims of the WWI. 

"I'm fine, I just needed some fresh air." Excused herself without apologizing. She didn't feel like doing anything wrong, but still tried to make it up for him and leaving her distrustful persona aside. However, the so-called listener once again seemed to be spacing out. Willow frowned with that irreverent gesture; it was shocking even for her to see him acting like that.

"The heck was that for!" No answer. She had no choice but to turn back and instantly see him going towards a direction. At first it looked like he was possesed, but that theory got suddenly discarded when the firestarter saw his face focusing in a peculiar spot. As expected, she followed her inquisitive partner without keeping her eyes out of her surroundings. It was too soon to think that it couldn't be another of Maxwell's mindgames to give him the same amount of insanity she suffered just a while ago. Her face met the crimson fabric of the vest when Wilson stopped. Apparently, the feeling on his back was more than enough to return himself and helped the lady to rise up, offering his hand.

It was obvious that she saw the whole size and form of the palm of his hand, and her mind was smart enough to confirm his intentions before taking action. But Willow just lifted herself out of the soil and brushed off her skirt to remove the dirt and leaves it catched. "Well, this is something I've never seen before during my stay." Remarked the gentleman looking again to the location he was seeking. The firestarter understood right away that he was speaking about a relevant fact, so she raised her head in the direction which his eyes were staring at, and became completely speechless. There was an atonoshing well-made refrigerator, along side a thermostat which marked very low grades; quite conflicting since the weather wasn't that bad. There was also a wooden chest keeping them company. 

"He dragged more people, hasn't he?" Questioned to himself once he processed all of the elements to analyze in the picture. "Whatever it is, we shouldn't leave that there hanging dead of laughter." Willow had been stopped of opening the chest by the same hand on her shoulder, and repeating the same edgy gesture that made him frown in concern while giving her another reason to get pissed at him. "What?! Are you telling me we should pretend we didn't see the best chance to get more resources?" 

"This could be someone else's base, young lady." Wilson was more moral than usual, maybe because he has been surviving god knew for how long and when he discovered by meeting Willow that he was such a fiend to keep luring people to that hellish place to his amusement, couldn't help but getting disgruntled. But still she wasn't the one to judge, he knew Maxwell way more than her and ostensibly "closer", if she was allowed to say that.

"Think about it, dork! Who in the world would attempt to build a base starting with a thermal measurer instead of a fire pit in a dimension in which darkness can get you killed?" For once, Willow had a point. A very smart one. The blue-eyed had to look away in shame of not noticing sooner. "I still have an odd feeling about this."

"There's only one way to check if it was worth the risk" The firestarter already got ahead to unlock the boxfish using a plank as a lever and succeeded, popping the lock out of its place. But as announced, the shivers came back to the scientist's spine when he felt his fellow collide again with his leg in a sudden back. Some shadows got released and disolved into fresh air like if they spent an eternity trapped there, waiting for the next fool to scare them. This time, Willow didn't reject the help of the survivor since that hit was her fault and gently got lifted by the hand while she felt another palm on her waist to make sure she wouldn't lose balance. Were gentlemen allowed to do that? Her face was showing arresting confusion, but that habit was pretty normal for him, and for one jiffy he'd swear he saw some flush on her cheeks, but unfortunately had to look away thanks to the thunderous growl in the distance of something threatening.

They couldn't do anything else but exchange glances between them of pure regret. Just like if nothing had happened, Willow was the first one to break contact and take all of the belongings in the chest. There were some winter supplies, like a puffy vest and a stuffed hat which looked warm enough to last a whole season, but there was also something which looked like a blue gem attached to a stick. "Are you going to ignore what just-"

"What's this?" Abruptly shutted his question and passed the cane to his sight and as she desired it got analysed. Wilson thought it'd be another way to make a walking cane, with a striking topping and a refined way to craft it, but in a sudden move, witnessed with his very eyes solid ice coming out of the gem and freezing an innocent bird that just passed by. "Bloody hell." Unintentionatelly dropped those words while the pigtailed lady stopped searching this time on the ice box to contemplate the scene. 

"I guess this was an odd way to break the ice." Suddenly, her eyes turned into a desperate well of suffering and spite looking directly into the naive pupils of the one who signed his death sentence. That reaction, was better not to ask why, but it had some cuteness on her and couldn't help but provoking a snort on the threatened survivor. That was definitely not the response she was expecting, and her face became a tribute to the confusion while he was there laughing out loud. It was the first time she was seeing him like that; his expression was already used to be frowned and had a remarkable wrinkle between his eyebrows because of that. The firestarter realized how stupid his face looked when he's trying to hold his laugh and in a matter of seconds she was being a victim of the contagious laugh attack.

Almost a minute has passed and between tears they pulled off to retrieve the ability of speech. "Why are we laughing?!" He didn't forget why was he almost bursting in tears, but the curiosity for her laughter was stronger. "I don't know! Why are you laughing?!" And after that intent to dodge the question, Wilson finally regained fully control on his throat to take a deep breath. His belly hurted like hell from the effort and feared that his companion was feeling the same, so tried not to say anything and wait for her to be on her faculties again. Nonetheless, her laughter got killed with a shocked gasp and suddenly a cold breeze surrounded them. 

It wasn't that low for Wilson, but Willow's short resistance to the cold almost got her demise in more than one time. "Miss! Are you-" Before being helped, she got up and handed over the clothes. "This was all my fault." Willow reluctantly repented, crushing every chance of surviving the winter and headed towards the opposite path from where they had come. He was going to stop her for a third time in a single day, but the faraway barking forced him to let her go, defenseless, so that the hounds would only get him that time.

~~~~~~

The time was running against her, every second in which she managed to stand and lighten the step towards the boulders, was a heavensent bless. The colder she was getting, the faster her sanity would drop and leave her in nothing but a pretty ice popsicle in the middle of the gale. Her head was starting to get dizzy and for one second she'd swear she just saw her fingers turning blue. The shadow creatures were starting to pester her again, taking advantage of the boon of being at the edge of doom and with no one to rescue her. But it's not like she needed anyone, she could fight them alone independently of her fate, but there were other priorities then.

"Say, pal."

Oh, no.

"You don't-" A war cry that sounded more of a frustrated yell in despair cut off that annoying sentence and the puppetmaster saw a brick-sized boulder airbone to his face. It was a total failure, since she forgot he can just dematherialize himself as he wishes just to make her feel bad, without bothering to dodge the attack. "Interesting, yet pathetic."

Maxwell seemed to enjoy the hysteric look of the survivor while she was struggling to pick the rocks as quick as possible from the biome she just entered in. Countless doubts sinked her mind while the river of anxiety and thick ice flowed in her veins. Why was he decided to badger her? Why was he always so awfully sadistic with them? And most importantly, what the heck just happened with the weather?

"What do you want from me." The firestarter's voice was getting hoarse and choky, but that didn't stop her from taking all the flint as posible before her body failed to her nerves. 

"Chatting with the lab rat was temporary fun, but you know better than me how boring he is." The king lit a cigar in front of her very eyes and swang the hand with the matchstick from side to side, teasing her, while those round pearls were following the red and yellow embers vanishing on the air, dying in his hands just like she was slowly in her path to perish. Sweet lord, how bad she craved for a mere source of warmth. Agony could be heard in her throat and strove so hard with her heart to not to let tears be shown.

"And because you seem to be... Less predictable." Every time her fingers had contact with the cobblestone it was feeling like pouring her hands into the North's Pole's waters, so at one point she ripped a piece of cloth off and wrapped it around her hands like useless mittens. It was rude turning back to the speaker; so the tall, anthropomorphic and allmighty figure prepared his lesson specially dedicated to her. 

Her sight was attached to the ground at this rate, trying to focus in any other thing that would let her forget at least for one second the imaginary ice piercing through her skin like Daphne turning into a laurel. But all she could remember was that god damned matchstick giving colour to the environment. Just when she saw those flames her mind allowed her to see the landscape with its original colour, not blue. The madness has already grown enough to play with her cornea and everything around her was mixed with crude tones of blue. Blue was definitely the colour that she hated most, and she was going to wither surrounded by it. 

Just when she thought it couldn't get worse, felt a sharp pain growing into her heart and fell to the cobblestone turf in a high-pitched shriek; like a dying puppy who just got kicked. Before the doomed firestarter could do it herself, some cold and sharp fingers ran into her chin, lifting gently her head to face the king kneeling over her; he was even uglier at a closer range.

"Poor thing, for one time you decide to leave the lighter and this happens..." Willow pulled strenght out of nowhere but her rage to grab his wrist. "You have something to do with this, don't you?" Maxwell looked quite surprised to see how far could her determination go, but it would take more than just a boon/power up to win his favor. 

"I have no idea what are you talking about, young lady. You're the responsible behind this." The puppetmaster shook his cigar and the firestarter's eyes could see, once again, in slow motion, how the ashes were free falling into the snow. How, how was it snowing? When did it happen? Everything went numb again and her heart was constantly strifing her mind. The effort she put before was in vane, or at least, that's what she felt. But even if she was going to face her demise in front of the responsible of it, at least she won't die whining. "Haven't you ever heard the saying curiosity killed the cat?"

With the help of the spear she took out of her backpack, achieved to stand again and lifted her face in a challenging look. "I didn't make it this far to get fucked up and given my life to a power-seeking wannabe who thinks he owns everything because surely in his past life did shit as a human being and can't do anything but pretending he's not the fucking failure he's trying to delete by the likes of YOU!" The usual grin on that ambitious man erased in an instant, and it got replaced on Willow's lips with pride and victory when she saw his reaction. 

That feeling of outsmarting the antagonist was too good to be true, but there she was, enjoying every last second; until she felt another hit on her guts that made her choke another yell. "You need to learn how to behave, Willow." Glossed and threw away the cigar, which was almost consumed. "He's pretty good at manners if I'm not mistaken, maybe he could be of some use and teach you ways to not to be a largemouth brat if you get out of this alive." Before fully leaving the cold firestarter, turned his head slightly to her, giving his profile. 

"Oh, you didn't tell him your name, right? Too bad, I guess you will never be remembered after all."

The last thing she saw, was his back drifting away, between the snow and the shadows who were impaciently waiting for their monarch to give them the signal. Her head was ready to faint, her sight became blurry and couldn't see anything but a giant blue cloud announcing she didn't have much time before ending on the ground again; but she didn't let him win. Despite of not seeing anything, she tried desperately to stab anything that was getting close to her, hearing only the roars and screechs of those fiendish monsters; and somehow, she got to hit some of them.

However, she was still a human. She was weaker than any of those terrorbreaks getting fed by her suffering. It was just her imagination, but those shadows were able to kill someone of the pain they made their victims feel. Willow felt multiple stabs in her chest, felt her guts falling apart and throwing them, and for just one second, felt the choking sensation again before fully losing concious. Willow might not make it, but she was going to demise satisfied, knowing that she faced the worst like a warrior, like what she couldn't had been in her daily life. 

~~~~~~

A familiar noise got to the firestarter's hearing. That had to be very endearing and relevant to make her disrup the urgent shutdown her body required. Willow opened vaguely her eyelids to see the startling and desired blazes dancing upon some logs and roaring stronger than ever. Was she dead? Was her life a whole reference to The Matchstick Girl tale? Either ways, she was too busy to think about it. The flames hypnotized her awhile. Once her sight gained clarity, quickly looked around to confirm she was on the camp. Her body was still shivering, but some blankets around her were working to get her out of the frozen hell she was living before.

Without putting much effort, she got her back up to see the scientist next to her. It wasn't like they were sleeping together, he was just sitting by the side of where her feet were placed. After getting a bit closer, she snorted to the fact that he completely fell asleep in that position. And the point of fact that he was dreaming while holding a piece of charcoal and his notebook on the other hand, just made it even better. "Wilson-"

"You're finally awake!" Awkwardly, he managed to lose balance in that pose and almost threw his notebook during the process. Willow arched her back a bit further from him due to the little shock her body made from that reaction. "We need to talk right now, miss. Why in the world did you just go that further without any re-"

"It's cursed." Wilson stopped in confusion. "Pardon?"

"The chest, it's cursed." After deciding she was ready to face it, her eyes met hims and the scientist just raised his hand forming a semi-circle with it to suggest her to keep going. "That was a trap placed in purpose to tempt us to take the bounty of the chest. The ice box was empty because it wasn't something that could interest us. It was work of Maxwell the whole time, but I triggered the curse." Her gaze looked down to the soil when she finished her explanation. "I'm sorry."

"You didn't have a choice." The firestarter raised an a eyebrow and looked back to him again. He wasn't mad at all, just a bit grieved about something that she was loosing. "You've made some reckless moves today, but it was because of something personal and I have nothing to do with it. I find admirable and almost heroic how you tried to compensate your mistake, but please-" Kneeling in front of her, Wilson raised the blanket to discover the thermal stone he placed next to her and took it to warm it up again on the fire pit. "-next time make sure you'll come back alive."

He was trying so bad to sound indifferent, but his eyes were betraying him and showing how hurt has he been the whole time of almost bearing her death. "Why?"

"Hm?"

"Why did you do it?" Willow's pupils were now focused on the alluring glow of the thermal stone. Changing from blue to amber, yellow to orange, and the most fiery red. "Why didn't you leave me to die? I gave you everything I took and you didn't need anything from me." 

"You matter." His reply was confusing her stubborn mind again, and just let out a small complain. "You've been detached treacherously from your previous life, forced to survive in an unknown space in time, and with no chance of escaping as far as we know. If we consider the possibility of time running the same in the real world while we're here, there must be at least someone dying to find you." His calmed voice finally warmed her teflon coated heart. Little he knew about her life to realize that no one could go after her, but those words really meant a lot to the firestarter.

"Willow." The sleepy scientist glanced towards her putting attention to the word she just said. "My name is Willow." There was something always triggering when she had to mention her name to some unknown. The fear of being asked for a surname was present and she was easilly judged for it.

"That's a pretty name coming from a pretty tree." Added while taking notes again from where he left it. Wilson left a brief pause in the atmosphere to give her a glance to her whole body. "And coming from a pretty lady, I see." For some seconds, a grin could be seen before the flushed firestarter gave him a hit on the shoulder. "That was indeed very unpolite! Why would you say something like that?!" 

Suddenly, the scientist realized what just happened and his face turned pale. She was right, that was ungentlemanly, why the hell would he say it? However, that didn't last much since the victim of such an unpolite gesture was laughing out loud of his reaction again. Wilson rolled his eyes but a wild smirk still appeared on his lips and went back to his writing. 

"What do you have there, nerd?" Willow peeked disrupting his privacy and abruptly closed the notebook, and his face was impressively nervous. "Nothing that could catch your eye! It's just a journal where I take notes of that "sciency stuff" you hate." The now warmer firestarter squinted her eyelids, unbelieving his excuse, but didn't want to bother him anymore and just gave him his desired space. 

"Thanks for saving me." She whispered while her back was lying down again to this time enjoy the feeling of the warmth over her body and sighed in peace. Wilson noticed that, and passed her the thermal stone again, which was glowing and caughting her attention again, it looked like little flames trapped together begging to her to release them out and set the world on fire, but she was convinced that "they'll have their chance soon".

"Thank you for not passing away while I was treating you." Joked again, trying to take the iron out of the matter. He was slightly thunderstruck for not receiving any answers in reciprocral, and came back to the patient he just saved to see that her eyes were shut and peaceful, being that the last sentence he was going to hear from her the rest of the night. Wilson had never seen her expressing such quietness and for a few moments he got to wish to see that face more frequently in the future. 

The scientist's endurance betrayed him and suddenly he found himself with his eyes closed as well in the exact same pose Willow saw him. However, after half an hour of being asleep, his body fell right next to the firestarter, sleeping almost face to face. Fortunately, Wilson was so need of a rest that it couldn't be awaken again, and the scene lasted what was left of the night. Maybe the next day they'd freak out, maybe someone would definitely get a hand bruise over his face, but that night they surely had developed a special bond; and nothing could be the same again. Willow had someone to trust and Wilson maybe his first friend in years. Or that's what he thought.

**Author's Note:**

> have you guys ever noticed how in almost every work in which Maxwell appears has the violence warning?
> 
> I'm aware it has become pretty vague near the end but it was like 5 AM here I couldn't feel my body working anymore


End file.
